


Be Careful What You Wish For

by Issylang



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Can I tag this as death, Danny Phantom AU, F/M, Ghosts, Harry's half ghost, but he doesn't really show up, death?, it's the danny phantom au no one asked for, they're ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 15:24:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9189203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Issylang/pseuds/Issylang
Summary: "Except, when James and Lily died they had to go and become ghosts. Which, wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, except their kid was a half-ghost, who just happened to hunt other ghosts.It’s really unnerving to have your own kid shove you in a thermos."





	

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Fact: I’m currently watching Danny Phantom and thought of this and completely rewrote what I previously had written. There are definitely some holes in the universe logic that need to be worked out, but they’re fine if you don’t think too hard about it. This is what I wrote for the Jily Secret Santa this year for storiofmylife!

The worst part about dying was what happened next. 

When you die, you leave people behind. There’s a you shaped hole in the lives of everyone who interacted with you. 

Except, when James and Lily died they had to go and become ghosts. Which, wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, except their kid was a half-ghost, who just happened to hunt other ghosts. 

It’s really unnerving to have your own kid shove you in a thermos.

It wasn’t his fault. I mean, it was almost to be expected. He was half-killed as a baby, so he was half-ghost. As for the ghost hunting, that was what James and Lily had done when they were alive; it ran in the family.

The worst part about being James Potter was that Harry knew it was him and Lily, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He would visit them occasionally in the ghost zone, but he was usually too busy with school and fighting other ghosts to worry about his dead parents.

It didn’t get much better after he defeated Voldemort, the only other half-ghost in existence and his archenemy. He had more time, and there were less evil ghosts, but there were also more ghosts to visit.

This wouldn’t  _ really _ matter, but the ghost zone was so  _ boring _ . James had never lived a truly domestic life when he was alive, and he was so sick of it now that he was dead. He loved being with Lily, he loved having Sirius and Remus back, he loved not having to hide from Voldemort, but Merlin’s pants was he bored. 

He didn’t like haunting people. It felt wrong when he spent his whole life fighting ghosts. Lily liked to tell him that they weren't like the ghosts they had hunted, that they only  _ mildly inconvenienced _ people that  _ deserved it.  _ It still felt wrong. 

He didn’t mind being a ghost, really. He just wanted something new to do. There were only so many times you could jump scare Sirius before it just wasn’t funny. 

(Actually, he might be wrong about that last part. It’s always funny to jump scare Sirius.)

When he complained to Lily about it, she told him to  _ be careful what you wish for. _

She was about to be able to tell him  _ I told you so. _

(James hated when Lily told him I told you so. Mostly because it usually meant that not only had she told him not to do the stupid thing, but that she had also gotten the results he wanted without doing the stupid thing.)

See, it all started when Harry came to visit. He had kids of his own now, (James would never admit it, but JP was his favorite) and didn’t have as much time to hunt ghosts. He had suggested that James, Sirius, and Remus team up and help him out, and the three marauders had jumped on the idea.

Lily had told them all that it was  _ going to get them in trouble _ , and  _ you know, if you’re so bored, you could just go out and haunt bullies like Mary, Marlene, Tonks, and I do. _

They had blown off her words of advice, just as they had when they were in school. Sirius had even pulled out the nickname he used when she used that tone, Naggy Evans. 

(It wasn’t all that creative, but he was eleven when he came up with it, so James cut him some slack.)

The thing is, whenever Lily used that tone, she turned out to be right. This time was no exception.

It was a week after they had agreed to help when Harry called in saying that there was a ghost problem in Godric’s Hollow, and he was too busy dealing with three young children to handle it. The three ghosts were off faster than you could say Boo.

They showed up, beat the ghost, and dragged him back into the ghost zone along with them with hardly a hitch. 

They did it again and again and again. Occasionally Harry, Ron, and Hermione would jump in and help them, usually saying something ironic about the good old days, but mostly it was just the marauders.

Lily kept her opinions of his outings to herself once they started, but he could tell that she wasn’t all too fond of them. He really wanted her to join him, to have all of them from the Order fight, almost like in their own ‘good old days,’ and he had even asked her a few times if she would. In response, she would give him an exasperated look, kiss him on the nose, and tell him that he could enjoy his silly little game without her. 

Things went on like this for months, the men fighting bad ghosts and the women haunting bad humans. They would meet up at home, James and Lily would make dinner together, their friends would come over to eat, and they would all drink wine and tell stories about their day. 

And then one day everything went to shit. 

Harry had called up the marauders, saying there was a ghost terrorizing Diagon Alley and that he wasn’t going to be able to come help. They had shown up expecting a normal day of fighting ghosts and found themselves face-to-face with a dragon.

A _ ghost _ -dragon, but still a dragon nonetheless. 

The best part about being a wizard ghost was that you still got to carry a wand around. 

The worst part about being a wizard ghost that hunted other ghosts was that wands hardly helped you defeat a full sized  _ dragon ghost. _

They put up a valiant effort and were doing surprisingly well until the dragon’s ghost friends showed up. Hundreds of ghosts surrounded them, many of whom they had already fought at least once over the past few months, and not one of which had a friendly face. It only took the mob a few seconds to overpower the three ghosts, and as he was being tied up by the ghost he had done the same to not one week earlier, Lily’s voice was playing in the back of his mind. 

And then suddenly it wasn’t just in the back of his mind. 

And then suddenly it wasn't just Lily’s voice. 

Diagonal Alley was a madhouse. There were ghosts fighting ghosts everywhere. 

He saw a flash of red hair and then the ghost chains were off of him and he had never been happier to see Lily in his entire existence, ghost or not. 

(And he had been pretty happy to see her plenty of other times.)

They were back-to-back fighting, the others jumping in when it was needed, and James felt an odd sense of deja vu. He also felt a bit like he was home. 

They won, locked up the ghosts and sucked them into the thermos, and went about fixing the damage the fight had caused. 

(The fact that wizards were able to retain their magic as ghosts really was a wonderful thing.)

And then they headed home, went about their night as if nothing had changed. James and Lily made dinner together. Their friends came over. Stories of their days were shared over glasses of wine. Life was back to normal. 

“You know, I have every right to hold this over your head.  _ But _ , I'm nice, and I actually had fun today, so I guess I can let you off the hook.”

James was in shock.  _ She had fun? She isn't going to say I told you so?  _

“You mean it? You had fun?”

He felt like a little kid again, like his parents were playing a little joke and the rug was about to be pulled out from under him any second. 

“Yeah. Maybe even enough fun to join you upon occasion.  _ Especially  _ if you'll join us girls on our haunts occasionally as well.”

He thought about fighting side by side with his best friends again, taking down ghosts left and right, as decided that maybe haunting jerks wasn't so bad. 

“I'll take you up on that, Potter. Let's see who can catch more ghosts and scare more jerks in a single day.”

“You're so on, Potter. Be careful what you wish for.”

And as she turned to rile up Sirius, he thought that maybe being careful just wasn't James Potter’s thing. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on tumblr @lamelylimes


End file.
